The Central Methodist University men's and women's cross country teams both opened their seasons with fifth-place finishes at the Maple Leaf Invite Saturday in Baldwin City, Kan.
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The CMU men had 102 points to finish fifth in the team standings. Johnson County Community College won the men's team title with 52 points. Junior Lucas Manring (Stockton, Mo.) led the Eagle men with a seventh-place individual finish, clocking a time of 16 minutes, 24.19 seconds on the 5K course. Senior Josphat Sawe (Kapsabet, Kenya) finished 10th in 16:27.93. Freshman Rusty Randle (Galena, Mo.) was 33rd with a time of 17:24.10 in his first collegiate race. Seniors Daniel Simmons (Versailles, Mo.) and Anthony Kiprono (Nairobi, Kenya) were 39th and 40th with times of 17:42.36 and 17:42.97, respectively. Rounding out CMU's top seven runners were seniors Brennan Denney (Waynesville, Mo.) and Daniel Jacobs (Washington, Mo.) who finished 58th and 60th in times of 19:07.66 and 19:14.43, respectively.
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"Lucas and Josphat ran together most of the race and looked strong," CMU coach Justin Herbert said. "I think Lucas is going to have a breakout season, and both of these guys will be in the mix at the conference championships. Rusty, Daniel Simmons and Anthony ran as a pack for most of the race, but I think all three went out a little harder than they should have. These three will be very important to the success of our team this year."
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On the women's side, Central Methodist finished fifth with 151 points. Kansas Wesleyan University earned the team title with 28 points. Freshman Elise Schreiber (Jefferson City, Mo.) and senior Lisa Scrivener (Peculiar, Mo.) paced CMU by finishing 22nd and 23rd in times of 16:19.34 and 16:19.99, respectively, on the 4K course. Sophomore Tabatha Leaton (Fayette, Mo.) finished 34th in 16:57.39, while sophomore Amber Beaverson (Moberly, Mo.) was 38th in 17:01.35. Freshman Adriana Romero (Redwood City, Calif.), freshman Sarah Tucker (Macon, Mo.), junior Deanna Quisenberry (Holden, Mo.), and sophomore Taylor Beaverson (Moberly, Mo.) were the other Central Methodist women competing Saturday. Romero clocked a time of 17:31.42 for 49th place, while Tucker and Quisenberry finished 52nd and 53rd in times of 18:02.44 and 18:03.36, respectively. Taylor Beaverson had a time of 18:22.13 to finish 61st.
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"I thought Elise and Lisa both ran well today, and I look for them to improve as the year goes on," Herbert said. "Tabatha also had a really impressive meet for us."
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The CMU cross country teams will be back in action Friday at the Mule Run hosted by University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg.